


Pretending Makes it Real

by still_lycoris



Category: X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Gen, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-02
Updated: 2017-01-02
Packaged: 2018-09-14 05:15:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9163735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/still_lycoris/pseuds/still_lycoris
Summary: Angel is good at pretending. Or perhaps he isn't.





	

Angel is good at pretending.

You learn pretending quickly when you’re in the cages. You learn to give people what they want to see because otherwise, you don’t get what you need. Win a fight, you get praised and adored and fed. Lose a fight or look like you don’t enjoy it enough, you get booed, rejected, perhaps even killed. So Angel pretends and fakes it and does what he has to do.

And sometimes, because he has pretended for long enough, it’s kind of become truth. Pretend that the fight is all that matters and it becomes all that matters. The fight is great because he’s good at it, because he’s _great_ at it and he is powerful and amazing and the best. He’s never wanted anything else.

Or at least, he can’t remember wanting anything else. If he ever did, it probably wasn’t important. All that matters is being the best fighter, the most skilled. Because then people will like him and want him.

And En Sabah Nur will let him keep being the best. En Sabah Nur will teach him to be even more glorious, even more perfect. He looks at Angel and he smiles and he touches Angel’s cheek and his hand is so _warm_ ... he cares about Angel, doesn’t he? He wants him to be even better than he already is because he cares. What other reason could there be?

And if a part of Angel remembers a time when he hated to fight, when death made him sick and when he just wanted to be allowed to live and enjoy his beautiful wings and fly so high that nobody else could reach him, that part is very easily hidden away. Because all that matters, in the end, is being the best because that’s why people love you.

Right?

**Author's Note:**

> Written for 12dayschristmas


End file.
